The deal stands as Saipem’s “largest single offshore contract by total value in the company’s history.”

A renowned Chinese offshore engineering company has recently inked a £160 million agreement to develop an offshore oil and gas project off the northern coast of Qatar.

Bomesc signed an agreement with Servizi Energia Italia, a subsidiary of the Italian multinational oilfield services provider, Saipem. This landmark deal underscores China’s expanding interest in the energy sector of the Middle East.

Bomesc, headquartered in Tianjin, specialises in engineering, procurement, and construction and is poised to construct a compression facility to support an oil and gas field, as per a press release from Bomesc, Chinese state-owned Yicai Global reported.

In an announcement last October, Saipem disclosed that it had secured a massive contract with QatarEnergy, formerly known as Qatargas, valued at a staggering £3.2 billion.

Under the terms of this agreement, Saipem will lead the way in the engineering, procurement, fabrication, and installation of two offshore natural gas compression complexes situated off the northeastern coast of Qatar.

The deal stands as Saipem’s “largest single offshore contract by total value in the company’s history,” an October 2022 press statement said.

Asian’s interest in Qatar LNG

In a bid to amplify its global footprint, Qatar has unveiled ambitious plans to sign a record volume of long-term LNG contracts, with a specific focus on engagement with Asian nations.

The aim was made by Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al Kaabi. Already a prominent global LNG exporter, Qatar has set a lofty target of contributing 40% of the world’s LNG output by 2029, affirming its status as an energy powerhouse on the global stage.

Qatar holds long-term contracts with Asian buyers, which mainly include China, India, Japan and South Korea.

Bomesc’s tapping into the Middle East, mirrored by other Chinese energy entities, is primarily geared towards extracting profitability in the energy and liquefied natural gas (LNG) sector, particularly in the Gulf nation.

In June, oil giant QatarEnergy inked a major 27-year agreement with the China National Petroleum Corporation to supply an annual four million tonnes of LNG.

Chinese oil giant Sinopec acquired a substantial stake in Qatar’s North Field East in April. With an annual capacity of eight million tonnes, the move demonstrates China’s firm commitment to the rising energy sector in the region, according to the Qatar News Agency.

Last year, China’s LNG imports from Qatar spiked by 75% from 2021, amounting to 15.7 million tonnes of the gas. The figure, shared by Chinese customs, amounts to a quarter of China’s total imports.

Qatar’s multi-billion North Field expansion project is the largest of its kind and is leading the country’s drive to dominate LNG supplies.

The project is broken into two parts, the North Field East (NFE) and the North Field South (NFS).

The first is set to ramp up Qatar’s production from 77 to 110 million tonnes per annum as the NFS will increase the production capacity from 110 to 126 million tonnes per annum.

QatarEnergy announced eight international partnership agreements last year for both phases of the projects, set to kick start in 2026 and 2027.